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Ollinger Bruce Pocket Park

BAGDAD VILLAGE HISTORIC DISTRICT

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES    -    SANTA ROSA COUNTY, FL 

Picture of Ollinger Bruce Pocket Park - Ollinger Bruce Pocket Park is a one-acre park adjacent to Tampa Landing on the Blackwater River. The park commemorates the years the shipyards operated here on the banks of the Blackwater River. Sitting on Northwest Florida Water Management District property, the park features a covered picnic site and a nature trail that extends south towards Shipyard Point.
Picture of Ollinger Bruce Pocket Park - Ollinger Bruce Pocket Park is a one-acre park adjacent to Tampa Landing on the Blackwater River. The park commemorates the years the shipyards operated here on the banks of the Blackwater River. Sitting on Northwest Florida Water Management District property, the park features a covered picnic site and a nature trail that extends south towards Shipyard Point.

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Ollinger Bruce Pocket Park

Ollinger Bruce Pocket Park is a one-acre park adjacent to Tampa Landing on the Blackwater River.  The park commemorates the years the shipyards operated here on the banks of the Blackwater River.

 

Sitting on Northwest Florida Water Management District property, the park features a covered picnic site and a nature trail that extends south towards Shipyard Point.

Picture of Historic Site of Ollinger Bruce Shipyard – Located on the shores of the Blackwater River in Bagdad, FL, Captain John Gardner established the first shipyard in 1833 at what is now known as Shipyard Point. The yard was located from here to the point facing island No. 2. At its largest, the shipyard covered 21 acres of the peninsula. Today, a few remnants of the Ollinger & Bruce shipyard can be seen along the banks of the Blackwater River. They are a reminder of the industrial prosperity that support businesses shared with the Bagdad Lumber Mill in its harvesting, milling, and shipping of yellow pine in Northwest Florida.

Through the years, the owners of the shipyard were John Gardner, Henry Farley, Joseph Forsyth, E. E. Simpson & Company, and, finally, William Ollinger and Martin Bruce.

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In 1858, Ollinger and Bruce formed a partnership to construct a small repair plant and marine railway at the settlement of Bagdad on the Blackwater River.  For the next sixty years the firm of Ollinger & Bruce and its successor, the Bruce Drydock Company, operated a shipyard at this site.

Picture of remnants of Historic Ollinger Bruce Shipyard – Located on the shores of the Blackwater River in Bagdad, FL, Captain John Gardner established the first shipyard in 1833 at what is now known as Shipyard Point. The yard was located from here to the point facing island No. 2. At its largest, the shipyard covered 21 acres of the peninsula. Today, a few remnants of the Ollinger & Bruce shipyard can be seen along the banks of the Blackwater River. They are a reminder of the industrial prosperity that support businesses shared with the Bagdad Lumber Mill in its harvesting, milling, and shipping of yellow pine in Northwest Florida.

(Right)  Captain John Gardner established the first shipyard in 1833 at what is now known as Shipyard Point.  The yard was located from here to the point facing island No. 2.  At its largest, the shipyard covered 21 acres of the peninsula.

(2) Picture of Shipyard Point, historic site of Ollinger Bruce Shipyard – Located on the shores of the Blackwater River in Bagdad, FL, the remains of the Ollinger & Bruce Shipyard can easily be seen at lower tides on the Blackwater River. The deeper structures along Shipyard Point provide a habitat for marine life and are often fished. Captain John Gardner established the first shipyard in 1833 at what is now known as Shipyard Point. The yard was located from here to the point facing island No. 2. At its largest, the shipyard covered 21 acres of the peninsula.
(2) Picture of Shipyard Point, historic site of Ollinger Bruce Shipyard – Located on the shores of the Blackwater River in Bagdad, FL, the remains of the Ollinger & Bruce Shipyard can easily be seen at lower tides on the Blackwater River. The deeper structures along Shipyard Point provide a habitat for marine life and are often fished. Captain John Gardner established the first shipyard in 1833 at what is now known as Shipyard Point. The yard was located from here to the point facing island No. 2. At its largest, the shipyard covered 21 acres of the peninsula.
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(Above and Left)  The remains of the Ollinger & Bruce Shipyard can easily be seen at lower tides on the Blackwater River.  The deeper structures along Shipyard Point provide a habitat for marine life and are often fished.  

Today, a few remnants of the Ollinger & Bruce shipyard can be seen along the banks of the Blackwater River.  They are a reminder of the industrial prosperity that support businesses shared with the Bagdad Lumber Mill in its harvesting, milling, and shipping of yellow pine in Northwest Florida.

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